A note of confidence, it's citrus season
When life gives you lemons make linguine al limone
It’s been a freezing, blustery week here in Italy. I’ve spent most of it inside staring at various screens, at images of politicians dashing in and out of baroque palaces and abacus-wielding RAI journalists tangling themselves in knots over parliamentary arithmetic. In the end though, the ‘governmental crisis’ has proved a predictably damp squib. Life goes on. There’s still confusion over the latest Covid-19 decree and lots of Italians are barricaded at home playing it safe to avoid catching Coronavirus (or, for those of a superstitious disposition, the much-feared ‘colpa ‘d’aria’). Yet amidst all the gloom there are reasons for cautious optimism. In ‘yellow zones’ the museums are slowly opening up, and art institutions seem to be developing more ambitious and better functioning online resources. As for me, I’m keeping sane largely thanks to the fruit markets which are now overflowing with the anti-depressant oranges and yellows of last year’s halcyon summer; citrusy reminders that better days are on the horizon…
To re-cap, though, in case you missed it: late on Tuesday night, after a series of long and rather turgid speeches, Italy’s senators participated in a vote of confidence in Giuseppe Conte (provoked, as I reported last week, by Matteo Renzi pulling support from the ruling coalition). The Prime Minister won 156 votes thanks to the support of rebels from Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and two ‘senators for life’ and has therefore secured his position, for now at least. While Conte will remain in office he does not have an absolute majority - which would have required 161 votes - and as such the recovery plan and annual budget are still at risk. Matteo Salvini, head of the right-wing opposition party ‘The League’, responded to the result by commenting that the eldest senators, including 90 year old Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre (who despite having been instructed to ‘shield’ turned up to vote in favour of coalition) were “living too long.” Whether this was a calculated anti-Semitic remark or simply the spontaneous tantrum of an overgrown mammone the fact this odious man will remain outside of government for the time being is, to my mind at least, a small nugget of good news.
It’s been a mixed few days in the fight against Covid-19. On the plus side case levels are decreasing at a steady rate. According to Giorgio Sestili, a leading scientist, new infections are down by 24% compared to last week, deaths have decreased by 13% and intensive care wards have freed-up capacity by 23% [Source]. While we all know how quickly this situation can change, the current numbers suggest that despite the relaxing of containment measures, Italy is not facing a third wave in the way that is true of some other European countries. Unfortunately news on the vaccine front is far less encouraging. Italy has administered 1.2 million doses so far [Source]; still top of the EU rankings, but a minimal increase compared with last week. The situation - which is the consequence of delays in shipments from Pfizer’s Belgium warehouse - is not expected to improve until mass distribution of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine begins next month.
Over the weekend I was asked to edit a powerful work of reportage by the journalist Filippo Poltronieri about Italy’s Roma children and their struggle to access online education resources during the recent school closures. The piece, which was published by Cafe Babel, is a good reminder of the disastrous consequences that the lockdowns have had on those that were already facing problems associated with social marginalisation before the pandemic struck. This also seems a good opportunity to flag up Jonas Carpignano’s film A Ciambra, which looks at the consequences of discrimination and economic inequality in Calabria. For my money this work, along with the director’s previous project Mediterranea, ranks among the best Italian cinema of the past few years.
Art and culture: a night at the opera
Fans of classical music have something to look forward to this weekend. On Saturday 23 January Milan’s La Scala will broadcast its first opera of the season: Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Given Lombardy remains a Red Zone there will be no live audience, but the performers, who have all been Covid-tested, have received the go-ahead to sing without wearing masks. Which is something I suppose. The event starts at 19:00 (CET) and international viewers will apparently be able to watch it at La Scala’s website on this page. If you’re reading this from Italy, the video will also be uploaded to RAI Play via the usual ‘on-demand’ service.
On Monday Italy’s department of heritage and tourism announced that they were awarding the capital of culture for 2022 to the beautiful island of Procida. This small clump of reddish-rock, just off the coast of Naples, has been featured in countless travel documentaries on account of is photogenic multicoloured houses but it’s rarely taken seriously as a place for making or contemplating art. This seems a shame. The Tyrrhenian coast has historically been a place of cosmopolitan mixing, with Islam, Judaism, Christianity all influencing the food, music, and literature of the area. The organisers have chosen the title ‘La Cultura non Isola’ (a play on ‘culture doesn’t isolate’) as their curatorial principle; presumably with this rich past in mind. I think this is an excellent decision: and one can only hope that the small community will succeed in developing a powerful, outward-looking programme to celebrate the hybridity that is such an intrinsic part of all Italian culture (and not only that of the south, or the islands).
Recipe of the week: Pasta with lemon
Citrus grows abundantly on Procida, so I thought I’d use the opportunity of this ‘recipe of the week’ to pay homage to that island’s new cultural award. You can make pasta with lemon at any time of year really. It’s great on a summer afternoon, with a just a drizzle of olive oil, or you could even add some guanciale for a zingier take on a carbonara. Letitia Clarke’s hearty version, though, with marscapone, cream, and basil, is my favourite variation, and just the thing for the current cold-spat. You can find the recipe in her book Bitter Honey - which I reviewed last year for Italy Magazine - or read it right away on her blog here.
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About Me
My name is Jamie Mackay and I’m a writer, editor and translator based in Florence. I’ve been writing about Italy for a decade for international media including The Guardian, The Economist, Frieze, and Art Review. I launched ‘The Week in Italy’ to share a more direct and regular overview of the debates and dilemmas, innovations and crises that sometimes pass under the radar of our overcrowded news feeds.
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